By Fatou Sillah
The National Audit Office has raised concerns over delays by some commercial banks in transferring government revenue, warning that the practice could impede the government’s timely access to public funds and weaken oversight of state finances.
The findings were presented Tuesday during the National Assembly Finance and Public Accounts Committee’s review of the 2025 Government Accounts.
According to the audit, officials examined whether revenues collected by commercial banks on behalf of the government were transferred into designated government accounts within the timeframe required under Memorandums of Understanding signed between the government and participating banks.
The review found that while compliance checks were conducted using commercial tax statements and the Management of Domestic Revenue System (MDS) non-tax revenue balance statements, several commercial bank accounts failed to remit the funds within the agreed period.
The National Audit Office recommended that the relevant government institution engage the affected commercial banks to ensure full compliance with the terms of the agreements governing the collection and transfer of public revenue.
In its response, management said it had been engaging commercial banks on the issue and reported that compliance with the agreed remittance arrangements had improved significantly.
Appearing before lawmakers, the Auditor General said the delays reflected broader weaknesses in the monitoring of government funds held in commercial banking arrangements.
“We have seen through a number of studies that at the end of the month, when the sharing is done, the concessionaire gets its portion of the revenue sent to its account,” the Auditor General said. “But the transfer to government accounts doesn’t happen in some instances. Banks have kept that money for years.”
He cited one case uncovered during a previous audit in which more than D50 million belonging to the government remained in a commercial bank for several years before the issue was identified.
“In one bank during 2020, there was over D50 million lying there for years without being remitted to the government until the audit flagged it,” he said.
The Auditor General attributed the problem not only to delayed remittances by banks but also to inadequate government oversight.
“No one was concerned,” he told the committee. “The banks received their share at the end of every month whenever the revenue-sharing was done, but nobody on the government’s side was monitoring the transfers or taking responsibility. The banks were happy to keep the money because it improved their liquidity.”
He called for stronger monitoring and accountability mechanisms to ensure that revenue collected on behalf of the state is transferred promptly into government accounts, saying effective oversight is essential to safeguarding public finances and ensuring that government funds are available when needed.
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